DIDx3

As the party gained their bearings after being trapped under the metallic net, Zero attempted to diffuse the situation by speaking to the Deepfolk in Dwarvish. Zero attempted to explain what they were doing down there, but the Deepfolk woman didn't want to hear it. She informed the group that they would be escorted to her village of Rikhevlovir to meet with someone called Nylin. While Scarf and Shein briefly considered trying to break free of the net, Zero told them to stand down and allow themselves to be escorted to the village. Proceeding down a series of passages after being bound by the woman, the group eventually came to an oddly shaped large cavern with numerous stalactites and stalagmites, giving the cavern the appearance of a giant mouth with fangs. Throughout the cavern were a moderate number of simple buildings constructed from some kind of white stone, perhaps limestone, and glowing mushrooms; some of which stretched toward the cavern ceiling like trees, softly illuminating the dark village. There were strange large featherless birds in pens, and as the group passed by the Deepfolk, a number of them looked at the group in surprise and turned to go inside their houses. They came upon a larger building with a man sitting out in front smoking a pipe of some sort. The woman addressed the man as Aingeir and asked about Nylin, and was told she was inside preparing talismans. The man addressed the woman as Junyall and after dismissing him, she brought the group inside, where they gagged and choked on the thick incense hanging in the air.

As Junyall addressed the woman called Nylin, she referred to the group saying she believed them to be the ones responsible for their "missing stalkers". The group protested, but Nylin was very perceptive and pointed out that the adventurers they found them near had been killed by blades, and Scarf was carrying an unusual number of blades on her, suggesting she had stabbed them to death. Toban spoke up next, suddenly appearing to have slipped his bonds, to confused looks from Junyall and her fellow Deepfolk, remarking that it was hardly difficult, to which Scarf followed suit by slipping her bonds. The annoyed Deepfolk decided to free the rest of the group, and Toban explained that he had lost his fellow adventurers recently and hired the group to investigate it. Nylin was suspicious, but told the group about a group of stalkers she had sent out to deal with some Quaggoths that had strayed too close to Rikhevlovir, and they hadn't yet returned. Nylin said that she wanted to take the party for their word, and offered amnesty if they would be willing to find their missing stalkers. The group agreed but wanted Nylin to send one of her own along. Nylin agreed and suggested Junyall accompany them, but that she did not want her to be alone with them, and said she would mark them with a rune that would allow Junyall to send the group back if they threatened her or did something suspicious. Nylin also added a stipulation that should they find the ones responsible for the disappearances, she wanted at least one of them brought back to her alive. After the group agreed, Junyall escorted them outside to the northern passage where they were led to a side passage leading down a series of short drops into an area overgrown with strange plant life.

The group began to explore the overgrown area with caution, but upon coming to an open area, Shein noticed a form moving around far above the group and looked up just in time to see a Quaggoth leap down to ambush him. With that, several other Quaggoths took the opportunity to take advantage of the group's surprise and leapt down on top of them. Two ganged up on Rainer while another another went after Zero. The group quickly recovered and began to fight back, with Toban retreating to the far wall to use his sling, and Junyall pulled out her battleaxe to savagely cut into a Quaggoth's shoulder. However, the Quaggoth that leapt on top of Shein quickly overwhelmed him, knocking him out cold with a strong mauling to the head. As Shein began to bleed out on the ground, Scarf managed to finish one off with a powerful through of one of her Flow constructed daggers, sending it straight through the Quaggoth's body and embedding it into the cavern wall behind it where it quickly evaporated. One of the Quaggoths broke away from Zero after becoming frustrated with Zero's strong defense and decided to go after Toban, who was unprepared to be rushed and received a deep gash on his leg. After being healed by Rainer, Shein managed to recover enough to stand up and take one of the Quaggoths by surprise, burying his dagger in the creature's neck. Having retreated into the bushes to hide, Scarf emerged to finish off the last one assaulting Toban by savagely stabbing it to death.

After recovering from the fight, the party proceeded down the cavern passages and came upon a crossroads with one overgrown passage leading to an unknown area and another clear passage. However, Zero noticed a bloody dagger on the ground and took a look out of curiosity. Junyall confirmed this is about where the stalkers went missing and that the dagger was of Deepfolk make. She handed the dagger to Junyall and they decided to press forward into the northern passage as it was clear. As they came upon the edge of a deep stream, they could see the vague shape of a humanoid corpse ahead with something glowing on the ground next to it. Zero cast Water Walking to allow them to cross the stream and proceeded to investigate, where they found a skeletal corpse, which had been here for a considerable amount of time, with a glowing sword laying on the ground next to it. As far as they could tell, the sword was just a strong source of magical light, so Zero picked it up and wrapped it in a blanket to suppress the glow before putting it away. Seeing nothing but a stream as far as Zero could see ahead, they decided to turn around and investigate the overgrown area. At the crossroads, Zero noticed that there were also some tracks leading away from the crossroads into the overgrown passage suggesting something heavy had been dragged through there.

Proceeding down the overgrown passage, the group pushed past the big bushy leaves until they eventually came to a moderately sized cavern where they saw something odd... a pool of inky black nothingness near the far wall, and the tracks leading directly to the edge. Toban confirmed what the party suspected, that this was none other than a Hollowpool, a portal into Umos' dark domain. He gave them a brief primer, saying that Obscurus was like a dark mirror of the material plane, but with a different layout, and that it was oppressively dark. He warned that any light within Obscurus, whether magical or otherwise, was hazardous, and would burn their skin. However, he had a solution in the form of a simple invention that Delvers used in Obscurus called a lampshade, and handed it to Rainer, who would need it the most, being the only one incapable of seeing in the darkness. The lampshade was a small cone meant to direct the light in a lantern in a single direction. Rainer decided to cast Light on a small rock and put it inside the cone, covering both ends with cloth to control the flow of light. Toban also mentioned several dangerous creatures that inhabited Obscurus, with one of the most dangerous being a creature called a Tarribir, which he said was a four-legged creature with chitinous armor that was faster than a crossbow bolt and that its spiked legs were deadly; saying that the Tarribir was responsible for many adventurer deaths in Obscurus. With that chilling warning, the group decided to take a short rest and erected a Tiny Hut to protect them while Junyall took watch.

After resting, the group decided to pass the threshold into Obscurus. When asked about what it would be like, and with Scarf worrying because it looked like water, Toban confirmed that it was not actually a liquid and while disorienting, entering was not dangerous. Toban joked that he would refrain from running off to take a piss this time. This prompted a question from Scarf about whether Zero had any need to ever relieve himself in such a manner. Zero said that not only did he have no such needs, but he did not need to breathe, eat, or drink either, though he occasionally needed to go into stasis. Zero promised to protect Scarf. With that, the group dropped into the pool, where they felt a disorienting sensation like being flipped end over end to stand upside down on the other side. As they emerged on the other side, they saw a strange endless darkness with patches of areas that looked like they had a heavy dark fog hanging over them that their eyes could not penetrate. Looking upward, they saw that there was no cavern ceiling, only an endless blackness. Looking forward, they proceeded through a passage, following the tracks, until they came to a wide open area where they could see a ravine ahead that curiously had a bridge spanning across it. Crossing the bridge, they saw that the ravine was deep enough that they could not see the bottom. Carefully proceeding forward, they came to a cliff with several short drops down to an expansive area covered by a dense black fog. Toban warned that though the fog itself was not dangerous; dangerous things may lurk within it. He said that their eyes would not be able to penetrate the darkness, but that he and Shein could at least see heat within which would warn them if any creatures approached or if they came across other dangers.